1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming device having an adjusting mode for making settings related to image formation and its control method, and more particularly to an image forming device, which enhances the user security in an adjusting mode to perform a maintenance operation by a customer engineer or the like, and its control method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, image forming devices such as copy machines and multifunctional devices are configured to switch from an ordinary mode to an adjusting mode when a prescribed key operation is made by a customer engineer or the like. In the adjusting mode, it becomes possible to access data related to the security such as not only settings related to image formation but also data about the security of a password of a machine administrator, an encryption key and the like.
It is know to provide a technology capable of efficiently finding an item of checking or changing various types of image forming settings in order to perform the setting operation easily and properly by a customer engineer or the like in an adjusting mode.
For the maintenance of settings related to the image formation of the image forming device which is used in a customer office or the like, the customer engineer activates the device in an adjusting mode and performs a prescribed operation.
Therefore, all the customer data stored in a nonvolatile memory or the like of the image forming device and information related to the security of an encryption key for encryption of the data were clearly known by the customer engineer, and it was not desirable in view of security.
Then, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and provides an image forming device which enhances the security of a user in an adjusting mode, when the customer engineer or the like performs a maintenance operation, and its control method.